However, because of what I do, I’m intensely interested in e-cigarettes as a means of stopping smoking and staying stopped, so I read on…

What an opportunity it has been! It’s early days yet, but already we have formed an interactive and lively group – academics, people with lived experience, researchers and practitioners. Our task? To find out what the public want to know about e-cigarettes and vaping.

When I say ‘the public’, this includes anyone who is curious to know more through research – it could be GPs, hospital doctors, vapers, smokers, policy-makers, pregnant women, homeless people, prisoners, stop smoking practitioners – anyone who has thought ‘I really would like to see research done about xxx to do with vaping/e-cigarettes’ can respond to the survey we are sending out in January.

We haven’t got long to road-test the survey, but the team at JLA (who told us at the first meeting about some of the other PSPs they’ve been working on – who knew all this public participation was going on in research circles?) have skilfully guided us through the early steps.

So in early 2019, we will launch the survey and sit back and wait for lots of replies.

If you have a burning question that you’d like to see included in the list of research priorities, do fill in the survey.

Then the real work will begin, sifting through the suggestions, and deciding which are the most crucial to answer. I’m confident that we have a well-balanced, engaged and knowledgeable group to tackle this task, and I’m proud to have been included.

Vaping helps people stop smoking – even when they don’t want to, according to new research from the University of East Anglia. A new study, funded by CRUK published today shows that smokers who switch to vaping may be better able to stay smoke-free in the long term. And that even people who didn’t want to stop smoking, have eventually quit because they found vaping more enjoyable.

“E-cigarettes are at least 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco smoking, and they are now the most popular aid to quitting smoking in the UK. However the idea of using e-cigarettes to stop smoking, and particularly long-term use, remains controversial. We wanted to find out about how people use e-cigarettes to quit smoking – and whether vaping supports long-term smoking abstinence.”

The research team carried out in-depth interviews with 40 vapers. They asked them about their tobacco smoking history and prior quit attempts, and about how they started vaping, their vape set up, preferred flavours and strength, and whether they had switched to vaping in attempt to quit smoking. They also asked them about situations and experiences that caused them to relapse into tobacco smoking.

“We found that vaping may support long-term smoking abstinence,” said Dr Notley. “Not only does it substitute many of the physical, psychological, social and cultural elements of cigarette smoking, but it is pleasurable in its own right, as well as convenient and cheaper than smoking. Our study group also felt better in themselves – they noticed better respiratory function, taste and smell. But the really interesting thing we found was that vaping may also encourage people who don’t even want to stop smoking, to eventually quit.”

While most of the sample group reported long histories of tobacco smoking and multiple previous quit attempts, a minority (17 per cent) said they enjoyed smoking and had never seriously attempted to quit.

“These were our accidental quitters,” said Dr Notley. “They hadn’t intended to quit smoking and had tried vaping on a whim, or because they had been offered it by friends. They went on to like it, and only then saw it as a potential substitute for smoking.”

“Many people talked about how they saw vaping was a no pressure approach to quitting,” she added. While most of the group switched quickly and completely from smoking to vaping, some found themselves using both cigarettes and vaping, and then sliding towards stopping smoking.

“We found that people did occasionally relapse with a cigarette, mainly due to social or emotional reasons, but it didn’t necessarily lead to a full relapse. This study suggests that vaping is a viable long-term substitute for smoking, with substantial implications for tobacco harm reduction.”

Alison Cox, director of cancer prevention at Cancer Research UK, who funded the project said: “The evidence so far shows that e-cigarettes are far safer than tobacco. E-cigarettes do still contain nicotine which is addictive, but it’s not responsible for the major harms of smoking. This is why they have great potential as an aid to help people quit smoking for good. It’s great to see this early indication that e-cigarettes could encourage smokers who weren’t originally thinking of quitting to give up. But more research is needed to understand exactly how e-cigarettes are being used by people who don’t want to stop smoking and how often this results in quitting. E-cigarettes are just one option for quitting – your local Stop Smoking Service can give you free advice on the best method for you, and with their support you’ll have the best chance of success.”

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‘The unique contribution of e-cigarettes for tobacco harm reduction in supporting smoking relapse prevention’ is published in Harm Reduction Journal on June 20, 2018.

At the June Global Forum on Nicotine event Professor Linda Bauld from the University of Stirling and Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, presented an update on e-cigarette use during pregnancy. In the presentation Linda highlights the latest research, a brief overview of smoking in pregnancy and why pregnant women who are still smoking should be encouraged to switch to e-cigarettes.

The project: The rise in popularity of electronic cigarettes (‘e-cigarettes’) in recent years has been accompanied by a growth in the number of virtual ‘vaper’ communities, with people sharing their advice and experiences of e-cigarettes with peers on internet support groups and discussion forums, many of which address ways of reducing or stopping smoking. The rise of peer to peer support is unique to e-cigarettes; no other means of stopping or reducing smoking attracts such passionate engagement from members of the public. This raises the possibility that we could better harness this peer support to enable more people to reduce or stop smoking using e-cigarettes and this project examines this. Continue reading →

As part of on-going work in relation to tobacco harm reduction, Knowledge-Action-Change is organising a series of dialogues, to examine the often contentious issues that attach to the use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping, in workplaces, places of entertainment and public spaces.

The series entitled ‘How safe is vaping? Media coverage, dilemmas and solutions in work and social spaces’ will take place:

Why these dialogues now?

There is still a lot of debate between scientists and policy makers about the nature, use and safety of nicotine containing products. The media has produced a lot of stories about e-cigarettes, not all of them either accurate, or supported by scientific evidence. Nonetheless these stories have an impact and can influence peoples’ thinking and reactions on issues. This dialogue is a place where everyone can bring their concerns, air them and hopefully become better informed about the products and their use.

Most vapers are former smokers who have switched to this safer way to use nicotine. Professionals working in public health largely accept that this is a much safer form of behaviour – for users and those around them – but there remain concerns about the impact of their use in some circumstances and in this dialogue we aim to identify some of these and try to address them.

What are the dialogues?

These short events are designed to enable interactive discussion and debate – involving public health professionals, academics and scientists, policy makers, consumers, owners and managers of premises and members of the public – on a range of issues surrounding the increasing use of safer nicotine products (including e-cigarettes) as an alternative to smoking.

During each dialogue a panel of speakers, representing different interests, each make short presentations, addressing different issues relating to e-cigarette use. Q&A and discussion involving the audience follow the presentations.

The dialogues are filmed with the proceedings posted on the web, with the aim of providing information to those who might be interested in the subject and to assist those charged with making policy in having a cross-section of views to draw upon.

Previous dialogues: Knowledge-Action-Change has produced a number of dialogues to date and some of these can be viewed here.

Inspired by people who have switched from smoking cigarettes to vaping, the NCSCT (National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training) and the New Nicotine Alliance have produced several short films showing how some people have made The Switch.

Fears that “vaping” is a gateway to tobacco smoking are unfounded, shows a comprehensive review of available evidence on the harms and benefits of electronic or e-cigarettes and vapour devices, released today by University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC) in a report called “Clearing the Air.”

Researchers surveyed the rapidly increasing academic literature on e-cigarettes and found evidence that vaping is replacing—rather than encouraging—the smoking of tobacco cigarettes among young people. The CARBC researchers identified 1,622 articles on the topic, of which 170 were relevant to their review. Evidence shows that tobacco use by youth has been declining while use of vapour devices has been increasing.

“Fears of a gateway effect are unjustified and overblown,” says principal investigator Marjorie MacDonald. “From a public health perspective, it’s positive to see youth moving towards a less harmful substitute to tobacco smoking.”

Among their other observations, CARBC researchers found strong evidence that the vapour from e-cigarettes is less toxic than tobacco cigarette smoke. Vapour devices do not release tar, and vapour emissions contain only eighteen of the 79 toxins found in cigarette smoke, including considerably lower levels of certain cancer causing agents and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Almost all substances tested were substantially lower, or not detected, in vapour devices compared to cigarettes.

In addition, vapour from electronic devices is airborne for less than 30 seconds compared to 18 to 20 minutes for tobacco smoke, substantially reducing the time of second-hand exposure.

Researchers caution, however, that some vapour devices may contain potentially concerning levels of metals and particulate matter, noting that there has been insufficient research regarding some significant carcinogens that may still be present.

Finally, they found encouraging evidence that vapour devices could be at least as effective as other nicotine replacements as aids to help tobacco smokers quit.

“The public has been misled about the risks of e-cigarettes,” concludes Tim Stockwell, CARBC director and co-principal investigator. “Many people think they are as dangerous as smoking tobacco but the evidence shows this is completely false.”

A media kit containing author photos, full report (for media only, not for publication), and an infographic is available on Dropbox. An executive summary is available here.